“Let’s go to the hospital and visit the worker who you saved from falling to death,” Cover suggested.
Silas perked up at the idea, and immediately agreed.
Cover used his ability to lower the pair from the balcony to the courtyard, and they then walked through the town to the hospital nearby. Silas was congratulated along the way by a few passersby who recognized his unique eyes.
At the hospital, Cover asked for directions to the patient’s room, and led the way to where a woman with a heavily bandaged torso lay in bed, both her ankles wrapped in bandages as well, and dark bruises visible on her unwrapped limbs.
“It’s good to see you! I’ve never met you, but those eyes tell me who you are! If I could get up, I’d hug you right now. You saved my life!” she gushed.
“I’m glad I could do it,” Silas answered modestly.
“My name is Melan, by the way, and I know you’re Silas – everyone knows.
“When that beam struck me and I started to fall, I thought my life was over. And then suddenly – a second later – I wasn’t falling any more and I was lying in midair, nothing but emptiness all around me! They told me it was you after they brought me here to the hospital and had me treated.
“My husband is out running errands, or I’d introduce you to him. He can’t believe that you just plucked me out of the air and put me back on top of the tower,” she added.
“And you’re doing well? They say you worked too hard – was it because of me? Are we going to get the job done in time for the sprites?” she asked.
“Silas is going to take over complete control of the project; we won’t use any other Movers, so everyone should feel confident,” Cover spoke up for the first time. “He can get the work done in time for our visitors.”
“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you saving me. I won’t be able to help finish the construction work on the project,” she motioned towards her bandages, “but I’ll hope for the very best for you. Come back and tell me how the progress goes, please?” she requested. “I’m sorry I’m such a mess, but I can’t really wear a fancy gown while I’m lying in a hospital bed,” she grinned.
Silas grinned and agreed to see her again. He didn’t think she had anything to apologize for regarding her appearance; her smile was warm, and her short hair looked undisturbed by the pillows it lay upon
“She thinks highly of you,” Cover commented as they left. “Who wouldn’t, if you’ve saved their life?”
They walked back towards the Guild buildings.
“Can we go see the construction yard while we walk?” Silas asked.
“If you feel up to it,” Cover agreed, and so they strolled to the yard, where Silas was given a warm welcome by those who saw him, as he glanced at the empty spots left by the beams that had been moved, and then contemplated the beams that remained. “I’ll plan to move that one tomorrow,” he said, designating one of the two beams. “Where is the platform itself that will rest on the beams?”
“It’s in the back of the yard,” Cover said, before they walked further to where several large triangular slabs of wood and metal were under assembly.
“They’re huge,” Silas whispered as he stood, confounded by the width of the area the platform pieces covered.
“They’re not really that heavy,” Cover commented. “They’re thin and made mostly of wood. You can lift them one at a time to raise them. If it weren’t for the one issue, I wouldn’t see any complications at all.”
“What complication is there?” Silas asked with a sinking feeling. He was going to end up having to work with the other members of the Guild after all, he told himself as he began to shake his head woefully. And working with the others would lead to the same type of uncoordinated disaster as a couple of days previous.
“The beam that you saved, the one that Riesta’s team was trying to put in place, was a bit damaged by all the stress it suffered in the process the other day,” Cover began.
“You think it suffered stress,” Silas muttered under his breath. “You forget the stress I had.”
“So that beam isn’t going to be able to fully support the piece of the platform that is attached to it,” Cover explained.
“So,” the instructor said in response to Silas’s disgusted look, “we think that you should wait to deliver that piece of the platform last, on the day of the sprite’s arrival, and hold it in place during their arrival and dance, then whisk it away once the event is over.”
Silas looked at Cover incredulously, appalled by the suggestion.
“It’s the only plan we could come up with that sounded plausible,” Cover’s voice sounded defensive. “Can you come up with something better?”
“Sure. How about no one dances where the platform isn’t put in place?” Silas snapped argumentatively.
“We have a few days to come up with a better plan,” Cover comforted Silas, as he decided to move on from the topic. “Let’s return to the Guild hall now, shall we?”
Mata returned to the apartment an hour after Silas, her breath carrying traces of wine once again.
“A few of us had a glass of wine after the armory,” she dismissed the matter when Silas casually mentioned it. “Just folks from the armory; I don’t even know their names.”
They slept on separate sides of the bed that night, and Mata didn’t rise when Silas left to go meet Cover.
“I’m going to try to talk to Jade with the mirror again,” she explained sleepily as Silas left the apartment.
He hadn’t heard back from the Speaker at the Faralag palace, Silas realized. Perhaps the Speaker – man or woman – had been napping, and had missed the message, he tried to rationalize.
Silas decided that he would go to the palace after he finished moving the beam, and he would attempt to meet the speaker in person.
Cover spent an hour in the instructional room trying to prompt Silas to exercise his powers without any outside assistance- either the crystal in his belt of the gas-soaked hood – but gave up without success when the time came to proceed to the construction yard, when the day’s beam waited to be moved.
They chatted amiably as they walked to the yard, where they observed that a crowd had gathered.
“We all want to see you prepare the city for the sprites to come visit!” one of the workers explained. In fact, there were more than just workers present; visitors had filled the yard as well, present to watch Silas launch the next beam to the top of the city’s landmark towers.
Silas walked over to the beam and looked around at those who stood closest to it, the workers who had assembled it.
“Thank you all for your work,” he called out, and gave a shy half wave, then focused on the beam.
There would be no second beam in the air to complicate his beam’s journey this time, he told himself reassuringly. He would only need to stay aware of the winds and the locations of the workers atop the towers he was about to connect.
“Everyone back,” he called out as he swept his arms wide, shooing the observers away from the vicinity of the beam. He looked at the long shaft, then grabbed his belt and let his fingers find the comforting bulge of the crystal within, as he called out, “Rise”, to the beam.
He had his telekinesis evenly distributed across the bottom of the beam, and it began to lift smoothly into the air.
“Back up! Give me room,” he spoke loudly while he looked upward into the air, watching the rising component, and waved one arm in a wide sweep behind his back, signaling that he was about to start walking out of the yard. He would need a path cleared so that he could begin to follow the beam across the city to reach the towers that were its destination.
The beam reached a sufficient height to float cleanly above the surrounding buildings, letting Silas begin to maneuver it towards the towers, while it continued to rise. He kept his eyes on the beam as he began to walk towards the gate of the construction yard, not looking for his path.
He suddenly felt a warm hand clasp his hand that
was on his belt, pulling it away from his body. “I’ll lead you; just keep watching your beam,” he recognized Farah’s voice as the voice of his guide.
“Thank you,” he murmured while they began to advance at a steady pace.
He kept his eyes aloft as he felt them walk confidently forward, and the beam continued to increase its elevation. He remembered his meal and conversation with Farah, the trust he’d felt in her, and so he trusted her completely while she led him around corners and across streets without him ever glancing at the obstacles that might be in his way.
“Watch the curb,” she’d warn quietly but firmly from time to time, while the towers in the city center began to appear and grow in his peripheral vision. They were advancing towards the tower, he and the beam and Farah, as well as the roaming audience that was along for the spectacle unfolding above the city streets.
When they were close to the towers Silas could see the workers who stood atop the building, watching the approach of their duty. He thought of Melan, the worker who had been injured during the catastrophic handling of the last beam delivery, and he knew he wanted to avoid causing any harm to anyone else. He owed it to Melan to protect her fellow constructors, the men and women who provided the muscle and skill and patience to build complex structures.
“We can stop here,” he told Farah. “I can see everything I need from here,” on the edge of an open park that provided a clear view.
“As you wish, Silas,” Farah replied calmly, coming to a stop, while still holding his hand.
He stood with one hand at his side, fingers intertwined with Farah’s, while his other hand was up in the air, directing the beam’s movement.
He wasn’t holding his belt, he belatedly realized. He hadn’t held the belt and the crystal pendant within it since Farah had woven her fingers into his, back in the construction yard. Yet he had lifted and moved the vast beam in the air the whole time.
A brief twinge of doubt filled his mind, and the crowd around him collectively gasped as the beam gave a wild drop of several feet while it approached the top of the tower. The construction crew atop the flat roof universally dropped flat or scrambled away, driven by their collective memory of the damage inflicted by the last unmoored beam in the air.
“You can do this Silas,” Farah said confidently.
She was right, he knew; he’d transported the beam across the city without holding the crystal, and he could finish the task now without holding the crystal. He squeezed her hand, and she squeezed back in return.
The beam rose back to the proper elevation, then slowly approached the gap between the tops of the two towers it was planned to bridge. Silas gently eased it into place as the workers atop the buildings regained confidence and returned to their places.
When one of the constructors waved to signal that the beam was settled appropriately, Silas released his energy, and the crowd around him cheered.
“So nicely done,” Farah let her hand slip away from his at last.
“What are you doing here?” he asked her. “Thank you for helping guide me.”
“I’m like everyone else!” she laughed. “The whole city knows there’s a mysterious newcomer who can single-handedly prepare us for the sprites’ arrival, and I wanted to see you in action.
“When will your next performance be? I want to watch you again!” she said with a smile.
Silas wished for a moment that Mata showed such interest in his work.
“I’ll talk to Cover and we’ll get the last beam scheduled as soon as possible,” Silas promised. He looked around, and saw his instructor speaking to a cluster of other members of the Movers Guild.
“When will we move the last beam?” Silas asked Cover. “I’m ready to go any time.”
“Do you want to move it this afternoon?” Cover asked curiously. “We’ve got workers up on top of the towers already. We could move them to the other towers if you think you can manage the next task so soon.”
“I can do it today,” Silas said assuredly, looking over at Farah. He felt encouraged to demonstrate his abilities before the counselor.
“You go back to the construction yard to tell them and to get your beam ready; take your time – we’ll have to get some things adjusted here,” Cover directed. “Then proceed to bring your load over here. “I’ll send one of these young pairs of legs up to the crew on top of the towers and direct them to move over to the other side when they’re done,” Cover nodded to the circle of Movers around him. Their faces showed a variety of opinions, Silas noted, expressions that ranged from admiration of his effort to obvious dislike of his demonstration of his superior ability.
“I’ll go get ready,” Silas agreed and left the group to walk across the park and back to the yard.
“I’ll come with you,” Farah strode along at his side.
They walked at a casual pace. “Would you like to see some of the city? You’re supposed to take your time, aren’t you? I can show you some sights,” Farah offered.
They walked on streets Silas had never visited before, and Farah offered commentary about some of the sights and buildings they passed.
“Here’s the theater when my boyfriend used to take me,” she pointed out one building midway through their trip. “I enjoy the comedies they perform more than the tragedies.”
“You have a boyfriend?” Silas asked cautiously.
“Formerly,” Farah showed an insincere smile. “We broke up; we had different visions for how our lives would be in the future,” she admitted, then tactfully changed the subject back to the theater.
Minutes later, they arrived back at the gates to the construction yard and entered.
“What brings you back, my lord?” one of the familiar workers asked Silas.
“Is the fourth beam ready to fly today?” Silas asked, looking in the direction of the berth where the beam had been built.
“It’s ready, but who’ll carry it? Is that other crew of Movers going to lift it?” the man asked.
“His lordship is ready to do the job himself, this afternoon, if the beam is ready,” Fatah spoke for Silas before he spoke for himself.
“We’ll be proud to see our work carried aloft!” the worker was pleased. “It’s a miracle to think that the one lad can do so much on his own, let alone do it twice in one day,” he said as he began to lead the way to the final beam. “And we’ll have the last pieces of the platform finished in just a day or two more, ready to be fitted in place on the beams, for the sweet little sprites to dance upon to their hearts’ content!”
They reached the fourth beam, with few workers near the completed project, other than those that had seen and begun to follow Silas.
“We probably dallied enough along the way that its safe to start lifting this beam,” Silas stood looking at the beam and thinking aloud.
“You could carry it slowly,” Farah offered advice.
“Let’s wait just a minute more,” Silas decided, wanting to make sure that the tower workers had time to transfer across to their other tower sites.
“Have a seat,” Farah authoritatively directed.
Silas did as directed, looking curiously at the counselor. “Now what?” he asked.
“Now I’ll massage your shoulders and back and neck, to help you relax after all that work this morning,” she replied, stepping around behind him. Her fingers began to immediately knead the muscles of his shoulders, relaxing and releasing the tension and weariness that resided there.
“That’s good,” he grunted with satisfaction. “I could sit here for hours and let you do that.”
“If we were going to do it all afternoon,” Farah replied, as her fingers worked their way into the muscles in his neck as they massaged, “I’d take you back to my apartment to do it properly.”
Silas moaned in appreciation, as the girl skillfully penetrated the knots that Silas hadn’t realized he had in his muscles. She edged her hands down along his back, then slowly worked back upwards to his shoulders. Her hands slipped i
nside the neck of his tunic to work on his shoulders, then began to slip down the front of his shirt as he eyes slid closed and his head lolled forward. She massaged his chest, relaxing him further, but then beginning to send his mind a different set of stimuli, before she pulled her hands free and tousled his hair affectionately.
“Let’s get your beam up in the air,” she told him. “We dallied long enough now. You don’t want to disappoint your audience,” her hand swept in the direction of the workers who were watching him.
Silas took Farah’s hand in his, then rose to his feet.
“It’s time, he agreed. They walked over to the beam so that he could study it, then he held his hand out in front of him at arm’s length, remembered the feeling of his voice and body when he used his power, and he spoke his command. “Lift,” he ordered the beam.
The long, slender construct shuddered as it rose from its cradles and began to rise, while Silas hurriedly smoothed out the distribution of his power so that all parts of the beam maintained a uniform speed of ascension. He lifted his arm, partially wondering if the movement of his arm was really necessary in the practice of his craft, or simple a reflex. The beam took flight and rose to the necessary height for horizontal movement across the city and began to slowly inch its way towards the towers that were its intended resting place.
Farah began to walk Silas through the yard and then out of the yard, once again providing the guidance he needed to follow a safe path through the city, while he picked up a second following of gawkers and admirers who wanted to watch the combination of magical abilities and worker skills place the beam in its expected location above the center of the city.
“We’re going to work on the far side of the central tower,” Silas told Farah when the high core of the city came into view.
“Then we’ll go this way so that you can get around to see,” she offered, leading him across the street and then circling halfway around the complex of large buildings to have an unobstructed view of the two towers about to be connected by the beam that hovered nearby, waiting for Silas to send it to its resting place.
The Pearl Diver Page 22
